Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

That is a damn good description of why accelerationists are gaining popularity. I think a lot of the alt-right obsession comes from this as well.

Since I'm an engineer and have been since the 80's and a hiring manager for much of the last 15 years I can tell you that the starting wage for an electrical engineer or a computer programmer with a four year degree is around $85,000 (that was IBM's "standard offer" regardless of geography for a New College Grad with a 4 year degree). My starting wage in 1984 was $25,500 (which was Intel's standard offer for New College Grads with a 4 year degree). According to (https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl) my salary in 1984 would be $60,000 today. That suggests to me that for my job and education there has been a 42% increase in salary.

I certainly agree that where I live (the Bay Area) the price of housing has outpaced that increase in salary, especially in home ownership. That appears to be stabilizing a bit as additional housing comes on line but it remains to be seen if that truly reflects what it costs. I also got married to an engineer and so we were both bringing home "engineering" salaries and that gave us the ability to get into a house in 1988 with a 12% adjustable mortgage rate.

So what does this anecdote tell us? Not a whole lot. Engineers make more today out of college than they did in the 80's. Not really a huge surprise.

I think Internet access is essential today, at its cheapest its probably $30/month, more if you combine it with a phone. That is a cost I didn't have to pay. But its an example of things that people today do have to pay.

Informational value? Not high.

The truth is that not all people born between 1985 and 1995 make 20% less than their parents in 2016 than people who were born from 1955 to 1965 made in 1986. Some make more, some make less, some make about the same. How many? That would be an interesting thing to know but this article doesn't tell us how to understand that. It picks out some anecdotes, sprinkles in some common boogeymen (student loan debt) and implies we're all headed for the crapper.

So it didn't impress me very much.

PS. Don't dismiss the coffee habit out of hand. $500 a year compounded at 4% a year over 40 years (21 -> 61) is a bit more than $50,000 you don't get to spend in retirement.

I really get tired of hearing people complain about low wages and being broke, but aren't willing on doing anything about it. Ranting on Facebook from their $700 - $800 Iphone while drinking a $5 coffee.

I've worked really hard for everything I have. Late nights on my own, studying to better myself. Missing opportunities to hang out with friends, concerts, etc. But, at the end of the day, I chose to focus on my skills, knowledge, and career. So, when I see these same people complaining, I feel like they are degrading the time I spent and luxuries I gave up to get to where I am.

The maximum income they apply to has increased since then though:

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/policybriefs/pb2011-02.html

(using the inflation adjusted numbers, 20-25%)

I'm not real sure what you mean by social security raiding. Of course the government has borrowed and spent much of the Social Security trust fund, but this has little bearing on the future of Social Security, as the borrowing has been fully accounted for. Some future government could decide not to pay the money back, but they would be responsible for that, not the government that borrowed the money.

No, that Starbucks habit isn't noise. I consumed Starbucks coffee daily after Christmas a few years back (got a lot of gift cards for them for some reason). It was $2/day for a cup of coffee. $10/week. Continued through the year, $500 (holidays and such mean I won't commute, vacations I may still indulge). That's 2 car payments if you buy a modest car. That's a significant chunk of your rent, possibly all of it, if you're not in NYC or SF or somewhere equally absurdly expensive.

It's like a code smell. If you're consuming pricy drinks on a frequent basis, what else are you doing that you could do for a fraction of the price yourself? Look at every other $1/day habit you have. Sodas? Modest 1/day habit (along with being unhealthy) if you don't buy them at the grocery store is around $2/day (bottle or fountain). That's another $500/year. Netflix + Hulu + Spotify + HBO Now + Amazon Prime + Cable? Do you really need all of them? I didn't, kept Netflix + Amazon Prime and saved $1200/year, more than a rent payment.

There, between coffee, soda, and media, I've saved > $2000. If your income is low, as this article discusses, this is a significant percentage of your income. 4% if your income is only $50k. Higher if you consider your net-income on that and not your gross-income. You still want coffee? I'm in an espresso club at work, 8 people, espresso twice a day, costs me $20/year for my contribution. Drop the sodas, they aren't healthy for you anyways, drink one once a week or so as a treat.

Examine your spending, really look at it. You'll find that you likely have a lot of places where you "leak" money, because it's just a coffee, or just a soda, or just a cocktail. Then it doesn't become an occasional spending thing, like once a week or month. But more frequent, daily or several times a week. Your money is gone and you don't know where it went.